surprise guest (star)

Bruises would have bloomed under her tawny skin if she’d continued to breathe, damage floating to the surface like the body had eventually. Ruby’s mom hadn’t lived long enough for that though. The hands – or weapon, he wasn’t going to rule that out until he had a confession torn out of the murderer’s mouth – that had wrapped around her throat had snuffed out her life, leaving no sign of how except for that single fracture.

Will’s finger traced the line of it in the photo. The morgue tech’s ruler marking out the dimensions of that tiny horseshoe of bone on the cold metal table. A broken hyoid revealed nothing of who April Herrera had been and everything about the man who’d killed her and cast her aside like a broken doll.

He sagged back in his chair, an elbow planted against the arm of it to grind his thumb and forefinger against his eyelids. Ruby wouldn’t have had a tarp shroud like her mother, but someone had planned for her to drown in that river, taking the blame for everything in their little operation. Flipping shut the file, hiding photos of what evidence they’d found in that abortive replay. All the years on the job and there were still things that could turn his stomach. Murder, certainly robbery, he could and had withstood, even at its most brutal, but what had to have been done to that child…

A swallow of the dregs of his coffee did nothing to wash away what wanted to roll up his throat. It was cold, the foamed milk flat in a way that just added to the queasiness. His partners were out, supposedly following up with the family, but he doubted that there was anything new to hear from that quarter. Ruby’s father had made certain that they didn’t have a clue about where their sister, their niece had gone, leaving them cut adrift, desperate for some sort of good news. He knew what that was like, that pleading voice straining in your mind, one that would make a deal with any sort of higher power if you just got them back safe and whole.

Rocking forward Will shoved the file under the stack of others on his desk. His own pleas were still fresh in his ears, the flashes of Zoey in that warehouse, bound, gagged, the man standing over her with his gun still striking like lightning bolts without warning. Once upon a time, before he’d destroyed their partnership, their marriage and any trust she’d had in him the case would’ve been one they’d discussed, even if they hadn’t worked it together. A nightmare shared, the evidence picked over until the two of them had found something together. Now it felt like a weight he’d add to her when the damage done was still healing. Would she have looked at the bones and seen them as her own if he hadn’t gotten there in time? The men who’d been holding her wouldn’t have stopped with threats. They’d wanted to punish him. And now they were back in his head after the respite of Christmas.

His gaze ticked over to the peril’s desk, wondering if the t-shirt was still shoved deep in one of the drawers. It certainly hadn’t been received with gratitude. The growl had rolled out a second after their ingenue had spread it across his chest with a crowing laugh. Balled up, thrown into the open drawer as though it had enough weight to make the gesture satisfying. He could unlock it in just a second, the flimsy things here at the station did nothing to keep him out. It would give him a moment’s amusement at least.

Will stared at the messy desk long enough that he almost dismissed the flicker of his screen as his mind playing tricks. Not close to it. He swivelled, punching at the keyboard with a thick forefinger to no effect. ”For the love of…” He’d saved his notes hadn’t he? The peril had lectured him often enough. Back-ups and not just in that little Smythson he habitually kept in the inside pocket of his suit coat. He hadn’t written up what he’d plucked out of the file in insubstantial crumbs, had planned to afterwards.

God. The word rolled through him on an imagined sigh as the text scrolled across the screen. Not a God, not a golden boy. The pain in his …

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, that reverential voice in his head begging for patience now instead of a miracle, although it was perhaps close enough to count as one if he didn’t throttle Lex within seconds of his arrival. ”The word is hello. If you’re looking to be polite, you can throw in a ‘how are you’ after it.” Polite wasn’t exactly a word he’d associate with the brat though. ”Perhaps I should’ve bought you a dictionary for Christmas. It might clear up a few things.” One dark brow arched as he swivelled towards Lex, his face a sour mask. ”Fave?” he asked, deadpan. The smile appeared for just a second, teeth bared in sneered amusement.

So that was it … he dropped by the hotel in an attempt to force a thank you out past clamped teeth and Lex strolled in here to just make his day. ”I was invited in when I came to visit … I’m not even going to ask how you got past that little necessity.” Will’s gaze shot towards the door, as though Lex’s mere presence would somehow summon Zoey and bring on a tidal wave of questions he couldn’t answer. ”You came all this way just to ask how my Christmas was?” Doubtful. ”It was pleasant, and spent out of town, as I’m sure you know.” Given how easily Lex insinuated his way into his life through his technology, he’d probably watched his every move across the city, crowing at the awkward little scene in the bagel shop.

Blue eyes squinted, frustration and disbelief pulling at his features as the final question … well, whine … struck. Will tapped his forefinger on the desk. ”Have you forgotten what led to your having to help save Zoey’s life? Only a fool would rush right back out there. Oh, right, who am I asking?” Dear mother of God. Will dragged a hand down his face, jaw gritted beneath its cover. ”There seems to be some sense in taking a break…” he started. It would be easy to blame it entirely on the fact that he’d obviously left some breadcrumb trail back to himself, but it wasn’t only that. What hope did he have of patching things up with Zoey when he was just going to fall right back into his old pattern of lies and deception?

Tagged: LEX CAMERON * Word Count: 1134

Raised with civility and manners stamped into his bones – ironic considering how little gentlemanly conduct his father actually indulged in – Will would’ve genuinely asked how anybody else was, making small talk for as long as necessary. Perhaps he even would’ve cared about the answer, but with this child? God, he’d rather have opened up the cursed machine on the desk and licked the live wires. He gritted his teeth, staring at Lex with the sort of patience that should’ve been winning him awards. ”You ask anyway,” he said tightly. ”It’s not a lie, nobody’s asking you to particularly care about the answer.” Perhaps they wouldn’t care if he throttled Lex right here in his office either. If any of them had met him they would’ve thanked him for it, called it self-defence even.

Lex had infiltrated his life like a spider in hob-nailed boots. Sneaking for the most part, before he started stomping, leaving those footprints across it that he couldn’t get rid of, no matter how hard he tried. ”No,” Will said, the patience in his voice strained. ”Just you and you do realise that I was doing perfectly fine before you showed up? And there is no hanging, at any point.” His words became clipped, breaking off with a curse as Lex pulled his trick again and a little reminder crawled across the screen. Reaching across the desk, Will pounded at the power button until the monitor went blank. He didn’t expect it to stay that way but tearing the cables out of the back might result in him actually wiping everything he’d been working to pull together without Lex’s help.

Dark brows rose, his gaze cutting towards the door, the desk that lay somewhere beyond. He was going to have a word with the desk sergeant about approved visitors and who was never to be on the list. ”You know that messing with law enforcement databases is a crime?” Not that it would bother Lex. Since he’d appeared at that first theft he’d stormed right into anything he cared to look at. The fact that it could get him locked up by the Feds didn’t seem to even occur to him. ”That,” he stated with pride, holding a finger up in Lex’s direction, ”is called being a good detective. Did you honestly think you were hiding your footprints?” They were practically flashing bright red, daring people to avoid following them. ”Thank you,” Will drawled, a saccharine tone to his voice. ”If you were bothered about me being there, perhaps you should warn Winter about inviting people in on their word alone.” Or Lex’s, since he’d obviously been filling in everybody about their little arrangement.

The warning had been shot at Lex to keep his nose out of his relationship with Zoey, but obviously it had fallen on deaf ears. Will winged a brow, easing his chair back an inch from his desk, as though he’d stand at any moment to cut the conversation off, fingers curling around the edge of the desk. ”You didn’t think I was making sure of that myself?” he asked, almost indignant. Okay, at the wedding, in the bagel shop, he hadn’t been, there’d been distractions, but they had been safe all the same. His chest grew tight at the thought of his trouble following Zoey home again. ”I would have done, if you’d given me a moment.” A blatant lie, but still. ”God, you really can’t help but nose into everything. It was a wedding, not exactly unexpected.” He couldn’t deny that it was annoying though, could he?

His knuckles were white with the tension of holding himself back when he finally uncurled them to tap his finger against his desk. ”It takes a pain in the ass to know one,” he shot back. Huffing a breath out, Will forced himself to sag back into his chair. He could be as rude as he liked and Lex would still be here, bitching and moaning as though he were the injured party. ”Is that why you came? Just to say I told you so again?” The thorn of his failure still dug deep in his chest, the pain radiating again as Lex brought it all back up. ”Shit’s better…” Not in the slightest.

Lex’s excitement drew a grumble out of him. Wil planted his elbows on the edge of the desk, digging his fingertips into his eyes, begging for the bolt of patience again. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to work. There were still at least a dozen separate leads he had in the area. Eventually they would peter out, the same way they had in New York, a little knot of corruption cleared out like a pocket of pus lanced, but for now it was all out there, festering until he couldn’t bear it anymore. ”You won’t go away until I give you something to focus on.” Not a question. He let out a long breath, wondering how long he had until the door would swing open and either his partners or Zoey would walk in. There was no explaining this. ”It’s not on my system,” Will finally sighed into the pocket of his palms. He’d been resistant to turn anything digital in the wake of what had happened. ”Archer Lee. He lives in Charlottesville. Can you check out his alarm system?” He wasn’t about to reel off the man’s address. Lex would have it in minutes, that hamster wheel brain of his churning into life with barely a scrap of encouragement.

Tagged: LEX CAMERON * Word Count: 921